Nate Marquardt Ready For Anderson Silva Rematch

Ready for Round 2 – Sure Nate Marquardt already got slapped silly by UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, but he is a different fighter now and feels he has earned himself a chance for redemption.

“I don’t know what the UFC’s plans are,” Marquardt said about his next opponent. “I feel I am ready for Anderson. I learned my lesson the last time I fought him. I feel like I am twice as good and twice as dangerous as before.”

Since his initial loss to Silva, Marquardt has gone 3-1, finishing in all of those wins. His loss was a controversial split decision to Thales Leites at UFC 85. Marquardt was deducted two points for landing two separate illegal strikes, however after review, only one of the shots were actually illegal.

Thanks to that “win,” Leites leapfrogged Marquardt on the 185-pound totem pole and will be getting his crack at Silva’s crown at UFC 97 on April 18th.

The Jackson Submission trained fighter isn’t trippin’ that he has to wait. In fact, that is one of the many things that he has improved upon since his initial meeting with Silva.

“When the opportunity is there, I want to take it,” Marquardt said. “I have fought a lot of tough guys, but I think I am getting a lot better at being able to finish fights. I would hurt them, but I would get so excited and just throw wild punches and not land. In this fight when I had him hurt, I took my time and tried to land my punches.”

If Silva is able to successfully retain his title against Leites, Marquardt guarantees that he will make it a completely different battle the second time around.

“Right now I am confident in my skills,” Marquardt emphatically stated. “I think it would turn into a war.”